Bringing HMCS Brandon home was worth exploring

HMCS Brandon won’t be coming to Brandon, but the attempt to bring the ship home was a worthy effort that hopefully signals a change in attitude as to how the city perceives and promotes itself, and how it wants to be seen by others.

The ship, now decommissioned, was a Kingston-class maritime coastal defence vessel based at CFB Esquimalt on the Pacific coast. Since its commissioning in 1999, it carried out several missions, including participating in Operation Carribe, the Canadian Armed Forces’ contribution to the elimination of illegal trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean by criminal organizations. She also participated in the 2022 RIMPAC multinational naval exercise.

In July, it was announced that the Royal Canadian Navy intended to retire eight of its 12 Kingston-class vessels, and HMCS Brandon was one of the ships selected to be decommissioned. Days after that announcement, Sun columnist Deveryn Ross suggested exploring the possibility of having the ship brought to Brandon and put on permanent display.

He wrote that the ship would be a tremendous tribute to naval veterans from the Prairies, as well as a unique tourist attraction that exists nowhere else on the Prairies, and argued it could be the kind of “big idea” that helps Brandon once again be a city with big dreams, with all the enthusiasm, energy and determination to make those dreams come true.

The proposal quickly gained the support of retired Navy lieutenant George Haggerty, Mayor Jeff Fawcett, Brandon-Souris MP Grant Jackson and many others in the area, but it was acknowledged by all that the numbers — the cost of getting the ship from the B.C. coast to Brandon — had to make sense. And, as it turns out, they don’t.

As was reported earlier this week, the cost of transporting HMCS Brandon here would amount to tens of millions of dollars — a price tag that Fawcett rightly characterizes as “just outrageous.” As a consolation, the city will eventually receive the ship’s anchor and propeller, though the cost and timeline must still be determined.

Some may argue that the effort to bring HMCS Brandon to her namesake city was a waste of time and energy on an idea that was unlikely to bear fruit. Such a sentiment reflects the “can’t do” attitude we see far to often in this city, however.

We agree with MP Jackson, who argues the process of trying to get the ship to the city was worth it, adding that “It was probably always going to be a significant challenge to get a significantly sized naval warship completely intact to a Prairie city. But there was no reason why we shouldn’t ask the questions.”

He’s right. We should be asking questions and we should all be generating, expressing and exploring ideas that have the potential to make Brandon a more interesting place to visit and live.

The reality is that we are in a competition with other cities for tourism dollars, for health professionals, for teachers and for innovative employers who offer high-paying jobs. And, in order to attract those dollars, people and jobs, we must go beyond the ordinary.

We must recognize that “You belong in Brandon” is more than a slogan on a highway sign that people drive past on their way to somewhere else. If we want this city to grow in a positive way, we have to offer experiences and a lifestyle that the cities we are competing with can’t or won’t deliver.

That obviously includes better air service and public recreational facilities, but it also means having unique, interesting attractions — a full-size warship, for example — that other similar-sized cities just don’t have.

You miss 100 per cent of the shots you don’t take. The proposal to bring HMCS Brandon here didn’t work, but the next idea might — and that’s what makes the effort worthwhile.